Anna was sitting at her desk, looking at the report that could help her with the current mission.
"Hmm… there is nothing I can use right now," Anna murmured while reading all the papers. Soon, someone knocked on her door.
*Knock!*
*Knock!*
"Miss, you have a letter."
Anna looked at the door for a moment, checked the person's power, and said after confirming that he wasn't a threat. "Come in. The door is unlocked."
A middle-aged man opened the door, holding a white envelope. He didn't say anything and just handed the envelope to her as if he was just doing his job as a courier.
Anna received it and dismissed him while looking at the letter. But she noticed something weird. "Hmm? The seal is broken?"
The middle-aged man made a wry smile while scratching the back of his head as if he was embarrassed. He said with a shaking tone. "Come to think of it, I tripped earlier. Ah, did I just mess up? Am I going to be laid off from this job?"
"Geez, get a grip on yourself." Anna sighed. The latter maintained his awkward expression, but deep down, he was sweating profusely. Anna was known as Bloody Mary.
Back when she had just joined the organization, she massacred the people that wanted to mess with her. The blood that she spilled dyed her clothes red like a drink. That was why it became her nickname.
If Anna felt something weird, it wouldn't be so strange that she would kill him.
But to his surprise, after hearing his reasoning, Anna waved her hand to dismiss him. She didn't say anything or kill him out of suspicion.
Without hesitation, the man left before she changed her decision.
She opened the letter and read it.
'Dear Anna
'It's been so long since you've got some time for the family. After the Demon Banner Army, you're doing your job as an Inquisitor.
'I was an inquisitor in the past, so I knew I could ask you this. Can you use the Expedition Leave to get some time for the family?
'We can go to the hot spring town, Alkasia, or we can visit the green city, Elkia, or the healing mountain, Ezenben. If you're not fond of a long trip, we can go to your mother's family.
'Your father and mother will always be waiting.'
When she read this letter, she frowned. It was impossible for her father to ask for a vacation.
The Expedition Leave was a special privilege granted to the inquisitor. During the leave, they couldn't be given any missions.
However, there were a lot of restrictions and rules imposed on it, so most inquisitors couldn't take it because they couldn't handle the consequences.
But Anna had the backing of a Marquis, an Arbiter, so no one would be able to stop her if she wanted to take the leave.
Of course, this was what other people knew about these circumstances. On the other hand, the truth couldn't be any different.
It was impossible for her father to request a vacation. It wasn't that he didn't miss or worry her. But they had agreed that they would respect each other's choice and wouldn't mess with their schedule and goal.
That was why she knew her father wasn't asking for a trip. Instead, he was warning her about something.
'What is this? What's the real meaning behind this letter?' Anna was contemplating. She also remembered how the Marquis Family's seal was broken when the letter arrived.
Not many people dared to break the Marquis Family's seal. After all, the Marquis could use it to frame them and even hunt them down.
If the Marquis Family used a courier firm, the firm could be held accountable to the point they would have to hand in a ridiculous amount of money to compensate the Marquis.
However, the letter this time didn't use such a thing. Her father sent this letter through his subordinate.
With how the middle-aged man acted earlier, Anna could get a grasp of the situation.
'It seems that there's a lot of spies in the family. My father can't get rid of them because of the king.
'They opened the seal to confirm the letter's content. My father knew about this and wrote a letter about the Expedition Leave… There should be a hidden meaning behind these sentences.'
Anna was racking her brain to see the hidden message. She had a hard time figuring out the reason.
But she felt the important message was left on the destinations of their trip.
'Now that I think about it…' Anna fell silent for a moment before rising from her seat. She walked to the shelf on her right, picked up a huge scroll, and laid it down on the table.
'My family, Alkasia, Elkia, Ezenben Mountain, and my mother's family…' Anna muttered these five places a few times before finding something weird. 'Wait a minute…'
She looked at the map carefully and measured the distance between them.
'Alkasia and Elkia are in the opposite direction while the Ezenben Mountain is between them. However, there is one similarity between these three. All of them require a one month trip.
'It seems my father wants to tell me something that will happen in a month. If that's the case, why is he telling me about my mother's family that is only ten days away?'
Anna narrowed her eyes, trying to connect all of them. Something clicked in her mind as her eyes flashed. 'Maybe he's not trying to tell me about this one month. Instead, he wants me to sum up the number of days required to travel to all of these since he can't say to do the trip a few times.
'Three months and ten days… In other words, one hundred days. Then, the expedition leave…' Anna gasped. She finally understood the content.
'So, that's how it is. The expedition leave is not for me but for Noel. He must be using whatever leave the army has for this trip that will last for one hundred days.'
